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SHADO-SAN
There once was a mighty warrior, strong and proud, who held his word above all things. This warrior, being so young, was always doubted over. But his strength would endure this humbling, but would his body?
>>It all started back in the days of the celts. A lad was borne into this world by a peasant girl who was forced into pregnancy but the Mongul army. For fear of the childs safety in their society, She offer him to a strange wanderer, the wanderer, upon hearing her pleas, finally relented and took the small child. >>The wanderer took the babe to a cave, and there, turned into a dragon, while preparing to eat the young babe, the child let out a cry. this cry reached far into the cave and another dragon came up, this dragon took pity on the child, for hte cry was like that of her murdered dragonet. She fought the male dragon and won the child, whom she breast fed until he was old enough to hunt. But the milk had an unforseen side effect. It changed his DNS into a changling. >>Soon the child learned how to control the changes, and then he started to master them, making him a great fighter. >>We shall start this story now from his late teens, he has mastered shifting, and shado walking. His outlook on life is everyone should be left to their own. Late one evening, he is walking into a small village, hoping to find some shelter, food, and rest. He searches the streets for any inn or hotel, but cannot find any, so he goes door to door, asking for someone to let him sleep there for the night, but noone will accept, all fearful of strangers in the night. Finally when he was about to give up, he heard a sound in the alley, normally not one to pry, he wondered what could cause such a ruckus so late at night, so young Shado walks around the house and peers into the alley. There he saw the most attrocous sight, A group of about 18 boys were throwing rocks at a young female, his morals wouldn't let this stand, so he walked into the alley, only intent on protecting the girl this one time. As he neared he heard the boys calling this young creature a demon, hell-spawn, child of satan. Shado stared into her eyes and saw that she did have an unusual amount of untapped evil in her, but she had done no wrong, as shado approached the first boy, the boys turned around and stared shado in the eyes. The look that the boy saw held there made him shrink make in fear, the other boys tried to make him feel better by saying that shado was nothing more than an illusion. And one threw a rock at shado to prove his point, as the rock flew, it appeared to get lighter, it was an illusion, Shado reached behind himself, as the rock flew through. The boys turned back to the girl and started kicking and throwing more rocks, then a rock flew from behind them and punctured the leg of one of the boys. The others turned on Shado expecting him to be as easy to take down as the girl, but before any of them could get close enough to attack, shado changed, the right side of his face erupted into scales, and his left hand turned into claws. The boys being ignorant of changlings charged him still, He started by merely pushing them off, they would still get up and attack, the parents of the boys came out to see what the commotion was, and saw that the boys were attacking a man, the man was just bouncing them into the trees, or tripping them, trying to discourage the attacks from a lump of cloth. Then one of the boys draw a knife and sliced shado's leg, when shado yelled in pain, the parents realized that the kids were fighting a changling, and had drew first blood, they tried to intervene, but the boys would keep rushing around and attacking, finally fed up, Shado reach out and grabbed a boy, not intending to harm him, shado pulled the boy closer to him, but a little to forceful, for the strain ont he boys back snapped it in half, The adults got angry, and pulled out swords and pitch forks, Shado was about to vanish into the night, when he remembered the little girl, so he quickly scooped her up and climbed the wall, disappearing over the roof top. Not wanting to leavew her there to die from the mob chasing him, He quickly pried into her mind, trying to locate her home, he found it and started the trek there, over the roof tops, making it harder for the citizens to follow him. Once he arrived at his desired location, he saw a small mob was waiting for him to appear. So he shadow walked over the last space, arriving inside the house, he deposited the girl into her bed and shadow walked out again. He kept the bundle of cloth, and allowed the villagers to see him, he jumped to the street and they naturally followed him, he ran into Fangorn woods, where the citizens were afraid to follow, for there were tales of the woods themselves hunting down humans. >>>He got just out of bow shot and stopped and dropped to his knees, The spirits of Fangorn were offended enough, he had to stop now. He dropped into a bow and waited for someone or something to bid him rise, after 30 minutes, no answer, yet silently he knelt there, an hour passed, no movement, no sound, two hours ebbed by, finally what appeared to be a tree stepped out and looked him over, and eventually spoke ::"You are patient young one, and you have respect for the trees, tell me, why have you entered this domain?" :: Shado replied "i come to seek refuge from those who attack a protector, i did not mean to rush in uninvited or unpermissed, please forgive me, and allow me rest for one night, and i will be gone in the morning great tree entulakra." :: The tree chuckled and spoke again "indeed the dragons have raised you for only they still call us that, and only they would teach such patients as to wait for nearly three hours without sound or movement for one of us to welcome thee. Rise, for i am entrut, and what are you called?" :: Shado replied :: "I have no given name, but i took the name of shado, for i am small enough to follow anyone, and can get large enough to out weigh a horde of goblin." Shado stood to look the entulakra. The entulakra replied ::"wisely chosen then young shado, you are welcome here anytime you wish to enter.":: Shado then sat down and told the entulakra of the happenings of the outside world. Of how people have become currupt and steal, cheat,and murder each other, How religion was blamed for these atrocities, and how the old ways have been perverted to allow greedy men the power to dominate others. Shado told of his quest to retrieve all the ancient devices of power, and of the girl he saved in the village. and the entulakra just sat and listened, when shado finished his story, the ent asked for a description of the girl. The only time the ent spoke was for this little bit of info, but shado provided what he could, seeing as he had not looked her over enough for a firm description, but the ent seemed to know exactly who shado was talking about. ::"you were right in saving this child shado, for she is more precious than most think, she does have wolf demon in her, but she does not know this, her mother is human, and has not told her, but she knows there is something different with her.":: Shado pondered this for a little while, and the Ent just sat and watched him, finally the ent reached up and pulled some bottles fromt he surrounding trees. ::"you must be hungry young dragonling, this is entwine, it will fill you for a while.":: "thank you entrut, i have heard of this in the great legends, when draongs and ents fought together to combat the evil of rider Dra kan." Shado put three of the bottles in his pack, and drank one. ::"Why do you not drink all of the bottles, it will replenish you young one.":: ::"Becuase Entrut, if these are true entwine, then they will best suit me when i truely need them, i will keep them safe, fear not that, but i also will not drink them all when al i need is rest. This blood is not mine, but some boys i accidentally killed in the village, that is why they chase me." "I see, then you had best be getting to sleep, *Entrut reaches out and puts shado in the bramble that is his hair* I will carry you to the other end of hte forest, atleast there you will be safe from these persuers.":: Shado unwillingly slipped into a deep sleep while Entrut traveled through fangorn keeping the trees and other ents from attacking him. >>>When shado awoke, he was in a meadow and he recognized the meadow, it was the meadow where he had learned to fly, Entrut must have known of hte grounds and took shado there to be safe. Shado stood up and walked around, something was different, he could not see the scuff marks where he had hit the ground and broke a tree, he could not see the scorch marks where he had learned he could produce fire by burping. I could not see the golden ring where he learned his magik. Where was he? As he looked, he heard wings flapping in the wind, and he turned to see who was coming, he was met by a small golden dragon, she was preparing to attack this human who dared enter her training grounds. Sure enough, once she got close, she let out a cone of fire, and shado moved quickly to dodge it, This only angered her, and she attacked again, this time, shadow shifted forms before the flame hit, and the heat only warmed his scales, he shifted back right before the flame ended, and when the young dragonling saw Shado still standing there, she got confused, she had launched a fyre so intense it coudl melt diamonds, yet this puny human was engulfed in it and did not even have a burn mark. She bellowed out, and soon the entire klan of dragons were on the training grounds, She was roaring no speaking rough drakonic, Shado stood and listened silently, not showing fear, the angered the adult dragons, but one of the elders watched intently, noticing the change in emotions as she insulted shado and almost mockery when she told how he has survived a cone of fyre. One of the adults were about to charge when the elder stepped out onto the field, and spoke in drakonic* "you understand what we are saying don't you?" Shado replied in drakonic "yes, i have listened to her lie and say that i attacked first, meanwhile i was chansed into the fangorn and an entraka left me here while i slept, she came and attacked me first, And those insults, were I a real dragon, would have meant that we would do battle, but i have no wish to fight her, nor am i a real dragon" *The adult dragons were taken a back by the extent of this humans drakonic language skills, some werew curios to know how he came by it, others wanted to destroy him for contaminating their language, but the elder refuse to allow anyone to speak. "how did you come by such a large library of drakonic words, surely not in any human book collection?" "I am Shado, and no, i did not learn from humans, but until i have a name of one that attacked me and who is questioning me, by drakonian law, i have to say nothing more." The elder knew this to be true, and so he gave up the names. "The one who attacked you is Saminita, and i am Kelthesh of klan Ku Tha Lik. Now please, i only mean to find out why you are here." Shado ran through his memories, he knew he heard of that klan before, then it came to him. "Ku Tha Lik, the rebellious dragons, i thought you were nomads, but you have a training grounds, i can see i was mis informed of you. I am of the La Kuan Shi klan. I was not born a dragon, but a human, but fearing for me safety, my mother offered me to the first traveler she saw, who turned out to be my adopted father, who tried to eat a youjng human babe, but my mother heard my cries and stopped him, she raised me since i was young, speaking only drakonic, and thus i learned to speak drakonic, i also learned several languages of the humans." "so you do claim humans as your ancenstors, but dragons as your parents. wait you say you where how young when you were adpoted? 3 months.......but that would mean that your DNA was.......... so the drakonic milk would have......no, it's only a fable but......are you a changling lad?" "Yes i am a changling." The rest of the assembly stood aback, shocked by this revolution. Kelthesh looked at Saminta, then back at Shado. Finally someone called from the back, "PROVE IT, SHIFT FORMS" Then another started, and finally the whole mob was calling for him to shift forms, All but this old dragon, who only stood there, staring at shado, waiting for his reaction seeing that shado was not going to be forced into changing forms, the Kelthesh quited the crowd. "I will take responsibility for him, you will leave him be, if he really is a changling, then he will reveal it in his own time, if not, then he shall leave us, should he return, he shall be put to death." The crowd seemed pleased with this decision, and shado accepted it also. Gracefully he bowed to the wise elder. "you decision is just, and cautous at the same time. obviously you value life over death, so you take a road that will lead to neither." Shado spent years in this new dragon clan. >>>Soon winter came 12th year with the dragon kaln, Shado wanted to know what would drive a nomadinc klan into settling down, and why they did not attack him as rumors told. Shado was often followed by young dragonlings who were too innocent to be of any real harm, and too young to fly, so Shado could always climb out of their reach if they started getting rough. This surprised the adults that he didn't straight out attack the young one, for their scales were highly valuable to humans. And when no with a contengent of babys he was often found wandering the hills talking to Saminita or wandering alone, in deep thought, NEver once was he far from camp, and never once did he try to leave. The dragons started trusting him more, and allowed him to wander about, one day, absentmindedly, dragon found a spring of hot water, not knowing if there was anyone there, he just took note of the location and walked away, But resting just above the water on the other side of the pool, hidden by the mist and steam was a human head with hair the color of an open fire. She heard shado coming and had dropped down, certain that he had seen her, she was suprised that he didn't react in anyway, almost as if he didn't want to pay her any mind. Once he left, she climbed out and walked naked to the tree line and then shifted forms, and disappeared into the dark shadows of the forest. >>>Shado went to Kelthesh and asked him about the spring, Kelthesh was suprised shado had found this and said that none of hte dragons had claimed it, never even mentioned it, but since shado was the first, he could claim it as his home while he was there. So shado walked back up to the pool and sat and waited, staring into the bubbling water, listening to the music the water made. He looks over the edge of the hill and saw that the young dragons were looking for him, but he didn't let them know he ws there, instead, he just sat,and waited, patiently calmly residing in his spot, while the animals came up and ate the grass beside him. The winter birds gathered twigs and the ramaining grass for their nests. He watched the sun rise, and the sun set, then he saw what he was waiting for, the person in the water had returned, she had not seen him yet, he wondered why, but she slipped intot he water, and swam to the middle and then floated there, the underwater current gently carrying her towards him, when she was once again visable, Shado picked up two rocks and clicked them together, She paid him no heed, so he tossed on the the rocks into the water, still no reply, finally he tossed the rock, which landed on her stomach, she got started and jerks, she sank into the water, when she came bck up, she was right by his feet, and shado couldn't help but laugh. "I knew you would be back, and i would like to claim this pool as my residence, but i need to know if i can first. you are fond of htis plce,a nd i don't want to force you from your solitude, so i am asking you to share this place with me." She blushed and dropped a little below the water, then seeing she was not looking at the water, she walked out and stared at him directly in the eyes, when shado tried to back away, she reached out and grabbed him, pulling him to stare directly into hers, the ferocity of her stare was bone chilling, Shado thought he was going to have two holes in the back of his head. Finally she released him and walked back into the water. "you are patient, yet you have evil in you, you try to respect everything, though you have no respect for it you go out of your way to avoid conflict, even though every fibr in you wishes to fight, you are chaos, an enigma, i will let stay, only to see how much fun you will make life." >>>Shado walked around the spring, looking for a cave or something to sleep in, he found a small wall of rocks, and used magic to create a complex cave system underground. He put a spell to keep rain water out of the cave, and designed the cave so it would be hard to get through, with some ceilings low enough so you would have to crawl through, passage ways so narrow, you would have to turn sideways to get through, narrow passages with low ceilings, large open chambers with enough space for one man to walk around the outside and a massive hole in the middle. a myriad of twisting tunnels, wrong turns, and sheer drops, multiple levels of everything with the entrance at one end, of the cave, the descention to the second level at the other end, and the descention to the third at the opposite end as the descention to the 2nd, he kept this pattern down to 5 levels, and finally his chambers, burried in the very back of the lowest level. He then built an escape tunnel that went directly to the bottom of the lake. Shado being a fast swimmer, he could easily make the journey out of the water. He used magic to create windows to watch the fish swim, plus if he should die, the bed chamber will flood, killing whomever killed him. He also found a volcanic steam vent and build an escape tunnel using it, it would push him intot he sky, allowing him to instantly fly away. Finally he build a magic tunnel that would allow any that shado invites to climb down to his chambers without having to crawl and shimmy to get there. >>>Soon it was ready for review. He went out to find Kelthesh. When shado finally located him, Kelthesh willingly came to see the cave system, he saw the entrance was smaller than most dragon caves, but knew it was designed for a changling, not a dragon, Kelthesh was afraid he would not fit, but shado showed him the hidden entrance, which relieved Kelthesh's fears, for once he got to the chambers, he saw they were large enough to hold a small assembly of fully grown dragons easily. Kelthesh was suprised that shado had this much power. Next shado had another to invite in, but shado thought he would have to wait, as Kelthesh was about to leave, they heard footsteps in the cave behind them, Keltesh readied for battle, and shado started a paralyzing spell. Both were about to release their attacks, when shado saw the female from the lake, this time she was clad in a short top, and skirt made from forest leaves. Keltesh instantly lost the taste for battle, and shado just cancelled his attack. Keltesh looked at her with knowing eyes. "Ahh, Amethyst, i see you have found our new friends, This is......" >>>Amethyst interrupted "Shado, we met before, though he was a bit suprised, i heard magik and though that i would see what it was all about, it was quite a trek getting down here, and how did you possibly get through all those tunnels old man?" >>>"Shado was kind enough to provide an excape big enough for a dragon to enter, it leads directly here." >>>"how gentlmanly of him, too bad he didn't have the descency to tell me" >>>Finally shado got his barings and started defending himself "you were next to find out, you come and go, i couldn't find you so i decided to show Keltesh. If you were easier to find, i would have showed you." >>>Pretending to be offended, Amethyst was quick in reply "so you wish to control me, to know where i am at all times, and to know what i'm doing, even when it had nothing to do with you, it that right." >>>Keltesh tried to defuse the situation, but couldn't get a word in. Shado replied "no, i just stated the fact that if i had found your first, i would have shown you already, but becuase i didn't i showed Keltesh." Keltesh decided to retreat before more than angry words were sent flying. >>>The fight went on for 15-20 minutes with no sign of letting up, both bodies standing their group, face to face, until finally Amethyst made a move and put her leg behind shado, and pushed him so he tripped and landed on the ground. This plus the tone in her voice was so convincing, shado took it as an act of hostility, jumped up, and charged her. Thinking that shado was playing, she charged him, soon they were in an all out fight, finally shado pinned her, and she was laughing at him, or was she, when i got off, she was still laughing. She finally caught her breath "god it's been a long time since i had so much fun, you are going to be a fun neighbor. I'll see you around." Amethyst then got up and walked to a small pool of water. "What's this Shado?" >>>"It is an escape tunnel that leads to the spring." >>>"So you really did plan to show me this place, that is good to know, but i have to go now, so i'll see you later." >>>Shado watched as Amethyst dove into the pool, and then swam up and out of the water. Shado went over to a small alcove and pulled out a bottle, he poured a goblet of green liquid, Shado quickly gulped this down, then he tossed his hair back and forth, allowing it to air out, and then he went, sat down in the middle of the room, and meditated. >>>Shado awoke to the sound of someone trying to get down to his cave, Quickly he used his claws to climb to a shadowy part on the roof and hung there, ready to strike the first thing that came into view. As he waited, listening, he heard the pad of human feet, unshoed, and they were shuffling, sort of scared. Still, someone has invaded his domain and would pay for it, as he silently watch and waited, he saw a shado, then he saw something he did not think was possible. The young girl from the village had somehow evaded the dragon encampment and found his cave entrance, and had got inside. The girl appeared to be in her late teens, early 20's by human years. She was surprised to find that the room was furnished, Shado silently crounchinging in the shadows cast by the stilagtite on the ceiling wathced her find some food, and sit down on his bed to eat it, Shado used his dragon magik to force a rock to fall behind the girl, she quickly turned to see what it ws, and shado shifted positions for a better view, He saw she ate only the smallest amount of food, obviously afraid of offending whoever lived here, she saw the liquid in the goblet, but didn't take any. Again shado caused a distraction, only this time, he moved down the wall, and got inside a small outcove, He cast a singing voice down the tunnel, and the girl saw the opening of the alcove, decided to hide there, She rushed to it, and didn't even look inside, or she would have seen him pressed against the back of her hiding spot, silently she watched for who ever was singing, and shado got tired of hiding, so he reached out and touched her shoulder, she got startled and started backing away, apologizing for not announcing herself, and for stealing his food, she was about to fall into the pool when shado hand flashed forward and pulled her away from the hole. >>>Amazed that someone she didn't know, stopped her from certain embarassment, she clung to shado like he was her dad, she held him for comfort, for safety, for fear of being lost. Then she thought a little, and let go, and was suprised to see shado was not angry, instead, he appeared calm as when she first saw him in the cove, completely at ease, with a worry or a care, little did she know that underneath this facade was a stiring abyss of anger, hate, and rage, wanting nothing more than to rip her head off for invading his personal chamber, She backed away a little, and apologized again, mentions something about Entrut, this made shadow listen more carefully, and when this young girl stopped speak coherantly, and just broken sentences, shadow did the only thing he could think of, he unleashed his mind, which made her freeze, all sound was stopped, shado delved into her conscience and subconscience, careful not to hurt her, he found what he wanted, an explanation, Entrut had put her at the edge of the cave, that his how she got around the dragons, and the water sprite, He warned her of traps and told her the correct way down. The old Ent wanted her to see him, but why? Then he found something he was not looking for, he found a memory of a black clad figure saving her from a gang of boys, and then confront a mob, and rescuing her form the mob also. He left her at her home, and then led the mob away. He saved her life, and she has been searching for him ever since, wanting to thank him, but she thought he was human, so she was looking for an old man, not this youth standing before her. Slowly shado withdrew from her mind, allowing her to feel like she was pushing him out. When he came to, she was glaring at him angrily. She yelled "HOW DARE YOU FORCE YOURSELF INTO MY HEAD. IW AS TRYING TO APOLOGIZE, YOU SHOULD NEVER JUST FORCE YOURSELF INTO SOMEONE'S MIND, I HAVE A GOOD MIND TO KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND, NOW WHERE IS THE OLD MAN THAT LIVES IN THIS CAVE?" >>>Shado, being corner, went defensive. His eyes started to glow with rage at being yelled at, he was about to yell back when he remembered what entrut said "she is valuable to us" so he just let it be, even though she kept yelling at him, demanding answers that she was not ready to hear. She had forgotten what the person who saved her looked like. Then she crossed the line, She reach out and hit him, mainly due to her frustration, but she hit him, he owuld not take this sitting down, instead, he rose to his feet, showing his true heigth about 6 inches taller than she, and with a rage in his eyes that made her step back and rethink her actions. "you ask of an old man that doesn't exist, for that old man is no man at all. He is a dragon changling, He doesn't age like you do child, He ages about 100 times slower, the OLD man you are looking for is ME, so learn some respect child, for i will not tolerate such blatant disregard for your elders, You have tried my patients, so you will wait another day for my audience" With that, shado stormed out, daring her to follow, but she was too shocked to follow, she had been hitting the one person who didn't have to show kindness but did. She hated herself for this. >>>Shado, knowing this, was going to punish her mentally, he would wait for her to crack down before giving her what she wanted, but what did she want? she obviously went in search of him, why? why did he mean so much to someone who barely knew who he was. This he would have to find out, but she was right, he should not have went into her mind like that. but the past is the past, now he must deal with the mess he made. The next day he returned, again he startled her, but she did't yell like last time, instead she seemed humble, he stared in her eyes, she truely held him in high regards. "come, let's talk now." as they walked she explained everything while shado listened, without saying a word, he listened to her go on and on about how she was treated differently after that night, when he had taken on a mob and they realized she had a protector, everyone was let apt to pick on her for fear of this shado coming back, for he had killed three boys without getting a drop of blood on him, and had simply disapeared into the night, She told of how she turn 18, and went into the woods, hoping to find him, but instead of an ent, who she lived with for a few years, then she mentioned shado, and the ent took her into a dragon camp, where there was much deliberation about whether to reveal my location or not, and then a water sprite came down and talked tot he ent, who took her to the cave's mouth, but would not enter, saying something about sunshine and fresh air. But he warned her of dangers in the cave, and how to find shado. When she finished, he explained that he was short tempured, especially when hit, she was welcome to live in the cave, just not to go down to the 5th level. not until the time was right, if that time ever came, this confused her, but she reluctantly agreed, shado procured some furnishings for her, chairs, tables, mirrors, and a bed with pillows, She insisted on being unreasonable close to shado's room, but shado relented and allowed her the alcove next to his cave*
Shado-San · Tue Feb 06, 2007 @ 06:38pm · 0 Comments |
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